Africa-Press – Rwanda. Jean-Louis Bruguiere of France’s Paris Court of Serious Claims a descendant of a long line of investigating magistrates, began his career in the 1970s.
He attended first the d’Etudes Politiques de Paris, followed by attendance from 1970-1973 at the French school for judges, the Ecole Nationale de la Magistrature in Bordeaux.
After his first assignment in Evreux he was transferred to Paris where he gained recognition for his pursuit of sex crime offenders.
He first became involved in anti-terrorist activities in1982, and became known for the capture of a notorious terrorist, Ilich Sanchez.
Judge Bruguiere became better known for his fight against international terrorism through his investigations relating to the downing of the French airliner UTA (Union de Transports Aeriens) Flight 772 in September, 1989 over the Sahara Desert.
This incident involved a bomb explosion aboard the plane and resulted in the deaths of 156 passengers and 14 crew members. Judge Bruguiere worked with the International Civil Aviation Organization to determine the perpetrators.
The investigation resulted in the obtaining of a confession from one of the suspects from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where the flight had originated.
This development resulted in Judge Bruguiere bringing charges against six men, all Libyans, one of which was a relative of the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi (known as “Brotherly Leader” and Guide of the Revolution) and deputy head of the Libyan intelligence service.
Gaddafi refused to extradite the six Libyans to France. As a result the six were tried in 1999 in absentia and convicted.
Judge Bruguiere was involved in another controversial case involving the assassination in 1994 of Rwanda President Juvenal Havyarimana and President Cyprien Ntaryamira of Burundi.
On March 27, 1998, a judicial inquiry was opened in France, after a complaint from the family of a French pilot killed in the attack.
In November 2006, Judge Jean-Louis Bruguière, in charge of the investigation, recommended prosecution against President Paul Kagame before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda for his “alleged participation” in the attack and signed arrest warrants. targeting his relatives.
On January 10, 2012, a French expert report on the attack concluded that the plane was shot down by missiles fired from the Kanombe military camp, then in the hands of Habyarimana’s presidential guard.
On December 20, 2017, in Paris, anti-terrorism judges Jean-Marc Herbaut and Nathalie Poux, who took over the case, signaled the end of the investigation.
On December 21, 2018, the investigating judges issued a dismissal order for lack of “sufficient charges” against nine members or former members of Paul Kagame’s entourage.
On July 3, 2020, the Paris Court of Appeal confirms the dismissal. The lawyers of the Habyarimana family and those of the French crew of the plane are appealing in cassation. These appeals were dismissed on Tuesday.
“Judge Jean Louis Bruguiere whose investigations were tainted by a clear bias and lack of knowledge of the factual reality of the event of the years 1990 to 1994 and even more so of the history of Rwanda itself,” reads part of the dismissal statement.
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